Excerpt from The Natural History of Birds: A Popular Introduction to Ornithology Of Natural History, in as concise a form as possible, a general view of the distribution of the feathered tribes, and of their uses and importance in Creation. The classification we have followed is that proposed by Mr. G. R. Gray in his impor tant work on the Genera of Birds, and is that now adopted in the arrangement of the ornithological collection in the British Museum, to the study of which it is hoped this volume will be a useful guide. The descriptions are selected as far as practicable from original sources, and will be found, notwithstanding the succinctness with which they are given, to embody a large amount of reliable information concerning the habits and mode of life of the various races treated of while the numerous engravings by eminent artists exhibit with clearness and fidelity the leading. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.